Three Good Reasons
by Lisse
Summary: Snapshots of three young shinobi. In another time and place, this would be magic.


Disclaimer: I don't own _Harry Potter_ or _Naruto_. This story was written for fun, not profit.

Author's Note: More of a fusion than a crossover, so I'm putting it under the Naruto category for the time being. What would the HP Trio be like as ninjas?

three good reasons

--

Nouka Kochiki doesn't grow up wanting to be a kunoichi.

Her mother and father run a clinic not far from the tiny village of the Hidden Mountain - specializing in dental care, of all things; it's amazing how many teeth a jounin goes through. She isn't entirely sure what she wants to do with her life, but throwing pointy objects at people certainly isn't high on the list.

Then she passes the aptitude test all seven-year-olds take, and she passes it _so well_ that there's meetings with her parents and discussions with the governing council. She could be incredible with scrolls one day. She could make wonderful seals and weave gossamer-fine genjustu out of thin air. She could, very possibly, be the greatest kunoichi of her age.

This is not why she changes her mind.

It is when the other students - the ones from the old clans, with shinobi for great-grandparents - look at her and tell her that she isn't the right material. They tell her that she is not meant to be one of them, so she digs her fingernails into her palm and studies even harder and thinks that they're right, because she will be _better_.

And now her back is to a treetrunk and there are Grass-nin shuriken whistling past her ear, and this is not a C-rank mission anymore, this is _stupid_, she is only thirteen years old and her hands slam down on neatly-inked seals and by all conventional wisdom, according to all the books, she's probably going to die.

She summons senbon needles and sends them flying in all directions, her lips curled back in a snarl.

Nouka Kochiki wants to be a kunoichi because conventional wisdom isn't always right.

--

Shuzaya Rokuro grows up wanting to be the best shinobi in the whole world - better than his parents, better than his brothers, better than the long-dead jounin uncles who died in the secret war, maybe even better than the kage. One day, he thinks, he will be the one that everyone remembers. He will be something besides the anonymous sixth son.

But he is not meant to be a cutthroat shinobi. He is a kind, loud, obnoxious boy, all too-long limbs and too-bright hair, and he tries and tries until his hands are bloody and callused and he still isn't the best at anything. By the time he graduates, he knows that he will never be the one to stand out.

That's what everyone always says. The Shuzaya clan is just fodder, good for making hordes of second-rate red-headed chuunin and not much else, not smart enough to disband and marry into more prominent and talented families.

He clenches shuriken between each finger and hisses at Kochiki to watch where she's throwing those damn needles - not that she listens, the stupid bossy wonderful _girl_ - and tries to remember everything he's ever learned about Grass-nin tactics, about jutsus and surprises and what kind of sacrifice might be necessary to finish the mission.

Shuzaya Rokuro wants to be a shinobi to prove that he's something special after all.

--

Kamajirushi Izou never wants much of anything.

He doesn't want much to do with shinobi, anyway, although there's never a question of whether or not he'll be one. Mostly he wants to know how his mother saved him from a dangerous missing-nin when he was just a year old. He wants to know what the seal she put on his forehead means, and he wants to be able to see the world without her bloodline limit unraveling every jutsu in sight, whether he wants it to or not.

And secretly he wants to be anonymous, just another blameless student, with his hitaiate on his forehead instead of over his eyes. He wants to understand what that's like.

When he's with Rokuro and Kochiki, he thinks he almost knows.

He lands lightly between them and the Grass-nin, knowing they'll protect him from the taijutsu he can't see coming, and he quickly judges the chakra surging around him. Two enemies on the left, one of the right, pincher movement, all of them stronger than he is.

"Stay behind me," he says, and channels his chakra through the seal and pushes the hitaiate up over his brow, where a normal shinobi would wear it. The ninjutsu flying at them melts and parts and surges harmlessly past them, burning itself up into the air. Behind him, he feels Kochiki's summons starting to unravel. The seal on his forehead is burning already; the bloodline limit eats up his energy too quickly, and he'll be useless in a few minutes. It'll be up to his teammates after that.

Just as well that they are his family and he trusts them with his life.

Kamajirushi Izou wants to be a shinobi for the silliest reason of all - to protect the people he cares about, no matter what happens to him.

When all is said and done, he doesn't think that's too much to ask.


End file.
